Maybe it’s the sense of apathy that’s greeted a lot of Phase Four projects so far, or perhaps there’s just something in the water, but this weekend has seen social media become swamped with Marvel Cinematic Universe fans sharing their praise for Avengers: Age of Ultron.
At the time, it was viewed as a disappointing follow-up to the game-changing first assemblage of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, with writer and director Joss Whedon hardly shy in admitting he’d been burned out by the MCU machine having shepherded Phase Two from behind the scenes in various capacities.
As recently as last week, you’d have been forgiven for thinking that Age of Ultron was undoubtedly the weakest of the four epic crossovers that drew a line under the franchise’s major storyline developments, but as you can see from the reactions below, that no longer seems to be the case.
One of the drawbacks heading into Age of Ultron‘s initial release was that expectations were set way too high by the success of The Avengers, but there’s still plenty to like about the battle between the core six superheroes and James Spader’s sentient android with a burning desire for vengeance.
The opening forest assault, the party scene, the introduction of Wanda Maximoff, and the climactic Sokovian showdown are all signature MCU moments, while the subsequent accords ended up influencing Captain America: Civil War, Infinity War, and Endgame in substantial ways.
All it took was a few years to let the dust settle, but Age of Ultron is now in the midst of a full-blown reappraisal from longtime MCU loyalists.